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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734362">Cold</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/icycas/pseuds/icycas'>icycas</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>SFW [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Amnesia, Angst, Dream Smp, Dream Team SMP - Freeform, Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Ghost JSchlatt, Ghost Schlatt, Ghost Wilbur Soot, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Relationships, Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Swearing, dtao3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:34:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,339</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734362</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/icycas/pseuds/icycas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Swirls of piercing pain swallow the two up; memories and emotions as numb as the biting tips of their fingertips. Schlatt and Wilbur experience what it’s like to live again through the arctic tinted lenses of the unrelenting afterlife.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jschlatt &amp; Wilbur Soot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>SFW [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081463</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>178</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is heavily inspired by Gomii’s Dictator Schlatt animatic and REI AMI’s Dictator part 2 </p><p>Gomii’s animatic: https://youtu.be/r0zGkqWkGrA</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Cold. Everything was so cold. </em>
</p><p>Schaltt stared down at fingers, moving each digit experimentally in the air as he tried to get used to the stinging sensation. It felt as if he was moving in slow motion with how stiff and forced his movements were. He brought his ice-cold fingers to his chest and felt an intense pang resonate within him that brought him to his knees. Choking out on the floor while writhing in pain, the businessman collapsed with his head resting in the dewy grass. He felt beaded sweat drip down his temple, and his entire being shook with how immense the pain was, and he dug his nails into the earth to try and ground himself on anything he could. When the pulsing pain started to subside, Schaltt let himself breathe on the floor. Any other time the dirt underneath his fingernails and grass sticking to his hair would have caused the ex-President to cringe, but right now, the frigid water droplets on the grass and cold dirt against his icy hot temple was a relief. </p><p>When he heard distant footsteps getting closer, Schaltt lifted his head to see the source and found Quackity picking up pieces of wood off the floor. Stumbling to get up, the ram hybrid walked up to the other boy. </p><p>“Hey dipshit,” Schaltt called out, strained, to his former right-hand man. When Quackity didn’t respond, Schaltt reached his hand out to attempt to shove the other boy, but to his horror, he didn’t make any contact. Instead, his hand went straight through Quackity, and Schlatt was left speechless. </p><p>In a burst, memories flooded back into Schlatt’s system. Everything came back to him, and he was forced to remember the painful moments minutes before his death. He remembered the gnawing loneliness clawing at his chest at the sight of his once companions being happy without him and the heavy feeling in his heart as he watched the people he once cared about point their weapons at him. He remembered the acid-laced pains he felt from the sight before him, and then the subsequently welcomed numbness taking over his entire body.</p><p>He wanted to forget it all. He wished that he could pretend that there was ever a time when the people around him were ever his friends and cared about him, but the stone-cold brunette knew otherwise. He knew he was the monster in this narrative and that he would always be remembered that way. He lived his life dedicated to becoming the villain, so he really didn’t understand why the consequences of his own stupid actions hurt so much. Even the person he thought would be loyal to him betrayed him. Schaltt couldn’t even blame Quackity, though. Deep down, Schlatt knew all along how much animosity the other boy actually held for him. </p><p>The businessman laughed bitterly at his final moment — a<em> loser to the very end. I drank myself to death; what a pathetic way to go.  </em></p><p>Sighing, the ram hybrid sat down on a freshly cut stump and looked out at the vast expanse of sky before him. </p><p>“The afterlife has not been kind to you, has it Jonathan?” </p><p>Schlatt whipped his head around to the familiar voice, immediately recognizing it to be the once former leader of L’Manburg. The businessman had a smart response to spit back at Wilbur, but he just felt tired. He just couldn’t bring himself to find the energy to care anymore. </p><p>“It doesn’t seem like the afterlife is very kind to anyone,” he responded with a sigh, resting his chin on the palm of his head lazily. </p><p>“Come on now,” Wilbur said, lightly bumping shoulders with Schlatt to silently tell him to make room on the stump. Schlatt got the message, scooting over so that the taller boy could join him to look out at the town below them. “It's not so bad, though. Think of it as a new start. The afterlife could be kind to those who try. Judging by your eyes, I see you’ve given up.”</p><p>“I don’t want to hear your pseudo-intellectual talk right now Wilbur, I just found out I died.”</p><p>“Schlatt, look at me,” Wilbur said, waiting for Schlatt to look over. When the hybrid reluctantly lifted his head to meet Wilbur’s eyes, the British boy continued. “We’ve ended up at the same place, sitting together looking at the same sunset. We’re just different sides of the same coin.”</p><p>“No, Wilbur, we are not the same. We were never even close to the same, and even now, we still have nothing similar. You lived loved, and then you died loved. You were killed because of love, and you will be remembered with love. You know what people think of when they think of me? They remember the tyrant, the villain; Jonathan Schlatt, the fucking monster that drove the formerly beloved President to insanity,” Schlatt said in hysterics, motioning at the town. “They remember my name in hate and disgust, and it was no one else’s doing except my own, so I don’t even want to hear some bullshit come out your mouth about how ‘I can change’ and ‘this is my opportunity.’ I’ve fucked my own life, and now I’m gonna stay fucked in this shitty afterlife, watching as the people I’ve terrorized live happier now that I’m dead.” </p><p>Wilbur sat there, unwavering, as he let Schlatt calm down from his outburst. “Schaltt, come here,” the curly-haired boy said, suddenly turning to hug Schlatt tightly.</p><p>“What?” the honey skinned man asked quietly. Confused would be an understatement, but Schaltt couldn’t help but melt into the warm embrace of Wilbur’s arms. He felt his heart pull and ache again.</p><p>“We have each other now, and I’m here for you. That’s all that matters,” Wilbur smiled back – smile a little too somber, eyes a bit too tired, and words a little too subdued. </p><p>“Wilbur… do you… not remember?” Schlatt asked in a near whisper, pulling away from the hug to look his ex-friend in his eyes.</p><p>The curly-haired brunette only smiled gently back, eyes crinkling with a lost shimmer. “Of course I remember.” He lied. “I remember who we were before this world.” He told the truth. “I remember how much you meant to me.” He told the truth. Wilbur remembered glimpses of the past, back to a time where warmness and honey syrup sweet feelings dripped over concrete memories to distort and obscure them. Still, Wilbur felt his heart squeeze and pull when he tried to remember past those memories. </p><p>Schlatt knew Wilbur too well for his own good and knew that the other boy was lying about the first part. Swallowing down the urge to summarize the events when he took Wilbur’s place of power, Schlatt just smiled back weakly. He didn’t want to admit it, but he missed this Wilbur – the Wilbur who he never corrupted, the Wilbur who saw him as a good friend, and the Wilbur who still smiled purely back at him. Schaltt was afraid that if he reminded Wilbur of the past, he would leave him and never come back. The horned man was worried that he would genuinely lose his friend forever again. He really was a coward to the very end. </p><p>Pushing away his guilt, Schlatt turned to face Wilbur. “I’m your friend, right?”</p><p>Wilbur laughed softly, a breathy laugh that Schlatt had almost forgotten, which could only explain to be pleasant. “Of course I am. What kind of question is that?”</p><p>Schlatt clenched his jaws. He really didn’t remember. Maybe Wilbur was right… perhaps this could be a new start with the two of them. Maybe Schlatt could forget about his sins and pretend that they were normal again. Trying to ignore the icy feeling crawling up his fingertips again, the brunette looked into the warmness of his friend’s eyes and felt the bitter coldness subside for just a few seconds.</p><p>
  <em> Let me be selfish just one last time. Let me be happy with him just one last time. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>had a lot of fun writing this angsty fic and kinda used it as a vent</p></blockquote></div></div>
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